


There's a deadly Snake downstairs! (rewrite)

by Drachma20



Series: Harriet Potter and the Kerfuffle of Hogwarts [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Evil Albus Dumbledore, Evil Ron Weasley, Female Harry Potter, Genius Harry Potter, Good Voldemort (Harry Potter), Morally Grey Harry Potter, Slytherin Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:35:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 18,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28114737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drachma20/pseuds/Drachma20
Summary: (The sequel to I May have helped An Evil Wizard!)Harriet Potter returns for her second year at Hogwarts! After an exciting first year, she would really like this one to be more normal.Unfortunately, fate has other plans. She's once again helping the dark lord on a more or less secret mission. On top of that, some ancient monster escapes and causes some carnage. What's a girl to do?
Series: Harriet Potter and the Kerfuffle of Hogwarts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1433728
Comments: 15
Kudos: 51





	1. These last days of Summer

Harriet woke up as early as usual. The sun had just begun to rise, colouring the sky in pink and gold. Dudley snored in the other room.

She looked around her room and decided to get up. Hedwig wasn't back yet. She pulled out the letters and postcards her friends had written her.

Turned out they were all having amazing holidays. Pansy was on holiday in southern Africa. Blaise was on holiday in New Delhi. Crabbe and Goyle were somewhere in Norway and Draco had been to France. Theo had been to Alexandria in Egypt. The Library sounded amazing or at least what was left of the ancient times. Harriet wished she could fly over. Unfortunately, you needed a permit for that.

She hadn't had a bad few weeks, to be honest. Dudley had been very friendly. Maybe Vernon had been at fault for his behaviour. Whatever the case, she was glad he was being civil. Still, it was a bit wierd.

Before she had time to follow that train of thought, Hedwig swooped in and dropped a letter on her bed. It was written in very neat handwriting that she didn't recognise. She opened it and read:

_Harriet Potter,_

_After your help last school year I have been able to return to a Physical form. I would thank you in person but I doubt your relatives would be understanding. Your mother once told me your aunt rejected anything magic related._

_I am currently staying at Malfoy manor and I shall be staying in touch._ _I would like to ask for your help with something once again, however this is something one should discuss in person. I will contact you. Do not respond to any of my letters._

_Greetings,_   
_Tom Riddle_

Harriet stared. She reread the letter. Then again. She stared some more before it dawned on her who had written to her.

"What?" she managed, ever the epitome of intelligence.

She shook her head. She could contemplate on that later. Pulling on a green t-shirt (one that actually fit as well) and some jeans, she contemplated breakfast. It was however still really early and she wasn't really hungry so... she dicided to have some snacks instead.

Then she finished the 3 foot long essay on burn soothing potions and the 2 foot long essay on goblin wars for history of Magic.

At 9 o'clock, Aunt Petunia called them for breakfast. Harriet dropped her quill, went to wash her hands (usually with ink stains and paper cuts) and made her way to the flat's small kitchen.

"Morning!" she greeted, in a good mood.

"Good Morning!" Aunt Petunia replied and placed three plates of bacon and eggs on the table.

Dudley came walking into the kitchen.

"Hullo," he yawned, flopping into one of the chairs. Picking up his fork, he bagan to shovel food into his mouth.

It was a well known fact that Dudley was not a morning person.

Petunia smiled at her son's antics.

"Harriet," she said, "It's your birthday soon. What would you like to do?"

Harriet's brain short-circuited. She froze, a piece of bacon halfway to her mouth.

"Uhhh..."

What? Had she heard that correctly? She had just been asked what she wanted to do for her birthday, right? She became hyper aware of being the centre of attention in the room.

"Maybe..." Harriet scanned her mind. Something to do, something to do. But not too expensive so it wasn't too much to ask. "Um - maybe we could go - go to the - um - park."

She almost hit herself. The park. Hooray.

"That sounds wonderful. We can have a picnic." Aunt Petunia smiled.

HALLELUJAH! There was a concrete plan!

"Yes, that sounds great." She smiled.

"Dudley, why don't you get dressed?" Petunia suggested.

Harriet's cousin, still not fully awake, shoved the rest of his food into his mouth and nodded. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve and got up, heading in the direction of his room. A year ago, he would have complained. Maybe even thrown a tantrum. His experiences at Smeltings must have made quite an impact because he was almost unrecognisable, aside from his weight and blonde mop of hair.

His personality had almost done a complete switch. It was as if losing the Dursley name had done both him and his mother some good.

He was still a prick sometimes. 

Dudley Evans was a rather average boy of 12 years old. He went to a public high school and had an interest in sports. Not football. That had been ruined by Smeltings. He was currently into cricket and boxing for some reason.

Petunia Evans was also a changed woman. She had gone from a snobby housewife to a more down-to-earth, hard working individual. No more did she complain about curtains or stalk neighbors. She spent the mornings working at a little shop on the corner selling craft supplies and stationary and the afternoons doing things around the flat, usually chores (if Harriet hadn't gotten antsy and done them first).

One could almost say she was trying to become more like a certain sister she had lost, but that was neither here nor there.

She had taken Harriet to a therapist several times as well. The girl had found it very creepy though, so that had been dropped as soon as the therapist had deemed her okay.

Harriet hadn't spoken a word about the events at the end of last school year.


	2. Events of the summer

The scarlet steam engine pulled out of the station and away from platform 9 and three quarters.

Harriet took a deep breath and relaxed in her seat. The amount of goodbye hugs Dudley had given her were more than she had ever asked for or wanted. It was nice that he was making an effort. Just a tad on the annoying side. It was like he believed that he could make up for all his past wrongdoings in a single month. 

She pondered on the rest of her summer. One issue had arisen after the other.

First, the shopping for school supplies.

_The list had arrived by owl and had nearly been dropped into her cereal. She picked up the parchment envelope, broke the seal and unfolded the contents._

_ SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS WILL REQUIRE: _

_ The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 _   
_ by Miranda Goshawk _   
_ Break with a Banshee by Gilderoy Lockhart  _   
_ Gadding with Ghouls by Gilderoy Lockhart  _   
_ Holidays with Hags by Gilderoy Lockhart _   
_ Travels with Trolls by Gilderoy Lockhart  _   
_ Voyages with Vampires by Gilderoy Lockhart  _   
_ Wanderings with Werewolves by Gilderoy Lockhart  _   
_ Year with the Yeti by Gilderoy Lockhart _

_Dudley peeked over ger shoulder._

_"Werewolves exist?" He asked going slightly pale._

_"Yup," Harriet replied, "and they're not the worst thing out there."_

_"What?"_

_"Oh, we don't need to worry about those. They only show up like once a century."_

_"What?"_

_"Yeah, y'know, like the loch ness monster which is a type of lake wyrm that hybernates for 900 years or so."_

_"You're pulling my leg."_

_"I wish I was. Just wait 'till you hear 'bout the giant squid in our lake!"_

_Petunia chuckled a little. "Your mother mentioned that a lot. She said she used to feed it toast." She smiled sadly. "Anyway, when do you want to get your books? Wednesday is my day off, we could go then?"_

_"Sounds good."_

_Wednesday came and before they knew it the Evans and Harriet were standing in the middle of Diagon Ally._

_"Why is everyone staring at you?" Dudley asked, as they walked._

_"I'm, unfortunately, a bit famous." Harriet said, rolling her eyes._

_"For what?"_

_"Not dying."_

_"I don't get it."_

_"You don't have to. Just hide me a bit." Harriet grabbed his arm and dragged him between her and the nosy glances._

_They went to Gringotts first to exchange pounds and pence for knuts, sickles and ggalleons. Then set to getting whatever they needed for school._

_Harriet dragged them through shop after shop, keeping an eye on Dudley at all times just incase he decided he wanted to poke something he shouldn't. The last shop they entered was Flourish and Blotts._

_They were by no means the only ones making their way to the bookshop. As they approached it, they saw to their surprise a large crowd jostling out side the doors, trying to get in. The reason for this was proclaimed by a large banner stretched across the upper windows:_

_GILDEROY LOCKHART will be signing copies of his autobiography MAGICAL ME today 12:30 P.m. to 4:30 P.m.._

_Harriet had a sinking feeling that something was about to go wrong._

_They shoved their way inside, trying to spy the books Harriet was looking for._

_Gilderoy Lockhart came slowly into view, seated at a table surrounded by large pictures of his own face, all winking and flashing dazzlingly white teeth at the crowd. The real Lockhart was wearing robes of forget-me-not blue that exactly matched his eyes; his pointed wizard's hat was set at a jaunty angle on his wavy hair._

_"He seems... nice?" Petunia suggested._

_"Do a lot of people wear those outfits?" Dudley asked Harriet._

_She shook her head, trying to control her features which had started to form a look of mild disgust. Something was off about this guy._

_A short, irritable-looking man was dancing around taking photographs with a large black camera that emitted puffs of purple smoke with every blinding flash._

_"Out of the way, there," he snarled at them, moving back to get a better shot. "This is for the Daily Prophet -"_

_"Big deal," said Dudley, rubbing his foot where the photographer had stepped on it._

_Gilderoy Lockhart heard him. He looked up. He saw Dudley and then he saw Harriet. He stared. Then he leapt to his feet and positively shouted, "It can't be Harriet Potter?"_

_"Oh crap." she muttered under her breath._

_The crowd parted, whispering excitedly. Lockhart dived forward, seized Harriet's arm, and pulled her to the front. Dudley had made a quick grab to keep her from being dragged to the front, but only succeeded in taking her bag._

_"Sorry!" he mouthed at her from where he stood._

_The crowd burst into applause. Harriets face burned as Lockhart shook her hand for the photographer, who was clicking away madly. She forced a smile._

_"Nice big smile, Harriet," said Lockhart, through his own gleaming teeth. "Together, you and I are worth the front page."_

_When he finally let go of her hand, Harriet could hardly feel her fingers and was busy bliking flashes from her eyes. She made a futile attempt to escape back to the Evans but Lockhart threw an arm around her shoulders and kept her where she was, dragging her into a very uncomfortable half-hug._

_"Ladies and gentlemen," he said loudly, waving for quiet. "What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time!"_

_The crowed 'ooh'ed._

_"When young Harriet here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, she only wanted to buy my autobiography -which I shall be happy to present her now, free of charge-" He whipped out a shiny book and handed it to her with more ceremony than the olympic games were opened with. The crowd applauded again._

_"She had no idea," Lockhart continued, giving Harriet a little shake that made her glasses slip to the end of her nose, "that she would shortly be getting much, much more than my book, Magical Me. She and her schoolmates will, in fact, be getting the real magical me."_

_The crowd gasped. Harriet restrained an eyeroll and ignored the urge to vomit. Lockhart was wearing too much perfume._

_"Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"_

_The crowd cheered and clapped and Harriet found herself being presented with the entire works of Gilderoy Lockhart for which she managed to stammer a thank you and some sentimental stuff about how grateful she was that someone eagerly jotted down before she was allowed freedom. Staggering slightly under the books weight, she finally managed to make her way out of the limelight to the edge of the room, where the Evans were waiting._

_"Can we please get out of here?" She almost begged._

_"Of course dear," Petunia said, "What an unexpectedtur of events that was."_

_The rough translation of that was: "That man has some nerve. If he wasn't a celebrity I would have clocked him with my handbag. No manners, I tell you, no manners!"_

Then, the meeting with Tom Marvolo Riddle had occured.

_Harriet had been walking around the park, trying to clear her head when a guy of about 18 came walking up to her. He had a gaunt face that reminded her of someone. She studied him for a moment before the penny dropped._

_"Hello, Tom." She gave a polite smile. This should be interesting._

_"Harriet, care to talk some business?" He asked, straight to the point._

_"What is it?"_

_"Someone at Hogwarts has a diary. A black one. My name will be written on the back. Gold lettering spelling 'Tom Marvolo Riddle'. If you see it can you send it back to me? Your owl will find me."_

_"Why? Want to reminisce? I don't know if I have the time for that."_

_"It's very important. I've stored a... piece of_ _myself_ _in it. By magic, of course. Nothing gruesome." He looked almost afraid when he said this._

_"I get a full explanation and I can tell whoever I want about this." Harriet decided to bargain. "Also, I do this in my own time."_

_"You do this in your own time, you get a written explanation of the main points and you tell_ _anyone_ _necessary to the job."_

_"I get a written a written explanation of the main points and your motivation and I_ _can't_ _tell anyone necessary and my friends."_

_"I suppose I'll have to settle for that." Tom held out his hand._

_"I suppose you will." Harriet shook it._

_"Thank you."_

_"What can I say, it sounds interesting."_

"Interesting." Harriet muttered to herself.

"What's interesting?" a voice asked, coming into the apartment.

"Pansy!" Harriet leapt up to hug her friend. "How are you?"

"I'm great, how are you?" She grinned.

"Doing well. My summer was pretty great. We actually celebrated my birthday! I have so much to tell you!"

"So do I!" Pansy sat down. "You won't believe what happened in South Africa!"

"Tell me!" Harriet said, letting Pansy's voice fill the air, feeling properly at ease for the first time in a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How is everyone?  
> Hope you didn’t mind two flashbacks in one chapter.
> 
> Comment or kudo.  
> XOXO, Drachma.


	3. Back to School

Later, the girls were joined by the friends they had made over the last year.

The journey was spent with a lot of chess. Harriet slaughtered them all. Her strategies always won. If they had thought she would go easy on them, they had been mistaken.

Crabbe, Goyle and Blaise were finishing some last minute homework that was written about as well as nearly headless nicks head had been chopped off. Theo turned up his nose at their handwriting.

Harriet thought about what Tom had asked her to do. How the hell was she supposed to find a single black book in Hogwarts? There were too many people there. Approximately 100 in each year, per house. If not more. It was probably impossible to find a tiny black journal.

It was slowly getting darker outside. Harriet yawned. She currently had absolutely no idea what Pansy was talking about and simply nodded along. 

By the time the train pulled into Hogsmeade station, the moon had risen and the stars were twinkling in the sky. 

This year Harriet and the others were brought to the school in coaches. They were victorian looking and we're being pulled by something invisible, which was mildly disturbing. They were more comfortable than the wooden boats of the last year though so that was a plus. 

Candllight shone in the great hall, which was decorated as it had been last year with the house banners hanging above the tables. The golden plates and goblets were set out and gleamed in the semi-darkness. They bade Theo and Hermione goodbye and found some seats at the Slytherin table.

A while later, McGonagall led in the first years and the sorting commenced. Draco immediately pointed out a Weasley who, of course, was put in Gryffindor. 

"Knew it," He whispered when she sat down.

Pansy and Harriet were far to bust analysing the new slytherins to notice. The seemed a decent bunch, but you never knew did you? 

The appearance of the food put a hold on all assessments. Eating was more important. They could decide who was most likely to sneak frog-spawn soap into a bathroom later.

" Yay! Food!" Harriet exclaimed happily, grabbing a nearby dish.

" Pass the spaghetti! " Pansy ordered. 

"Chicken!" Said Blaise.

The feast was always a joyful occasion and the one time where you could eat as much as you damn well wanted without feeling judged. Slytherin Prefects Higgs and Whittington were no exception. Both were politely stuffing their faces. Slytherins always did everything with a certain air of dignity that no situation could take away from them. Or at least, they liked to believe they did.

Something flashed passed the window along with the sound of a car engine. All heads turned. Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape hurried out of the hall. 

"Did someone fly a car to school?" Harriet asked.

"I think you need a permit for that." Pansy said.

"Well," Blaise chimed in, "Maybe it's an older student. Most seventh years are seventeen already."

"No one seems to be missing..." Harriet frowned, studying the seventh years at the far end of all the tables.

"Can we just enjoy our meal, please?" Draco asked, rolling his eyes. "We can worry about the drama later!"

After the feast was over, they walked towards their house common room.

"Looks gloomier than last year," Harriet commented.

"Maybe it's because of what happened..." Pansy trailed off.

They all exchanged glances.

"Let's not talk about that," Draco suggested. That was what his father always said when an uncomfortable subject was brought up at dinner.

The others nodded in agreement. They were okay and had rescued the stone. All was well.

"Well, goodnight then." Harriet raised a hand shortly and walked in the direction of the second year dormitory.

Pansy followed her after a short while. When she entered the room, the curtains around Harriet's bed had been drawn shut already. It was strange, since she usually kept them open for an hour to read before she went to sleep.

Maybe something had changed over the holidays?

Pansy shrugged it off. Even last year she hadn't been able to tell what Harriet had been thinking. She wasn't even sure she had gotten to know her properly. Regardless, Pansy Parkinson had decided that Harriet Potter was her friend and that she could trust her, even if she was rather cold, sometimes on the rude side and made everyone around her feel like an idiot on a semi-regular basis. Harriet could also be considerate and warm hearted. It just wasn't her default setting.

Pansy was sure that she would eventually come out of her shell completely and that she would be the best friend anyone could wish for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Hope everyone is doing well.   
> Comment or Kudo.  
> Thanks to all my readers.  
> XOXO, Drachma


	4. Pixie Pandemonium

The next morning, the news that Ron Weasley had driven a flying car to Hogwarts and had managed to crash it into the ancient Whomping Willow reached them.

"STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHERAND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE -"

The yelling shocked everyone.

"Looks like Weasleys got a howler," Draco whispered gleefully to his friends.

"Serves him right," Pansy said, buttering her toast.

"- LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU COULD HAVE DIED -"

Harriet's eardrums started to hurt and her hands began to shake. She placed them out of sight under the table and focused on the food in front of her taking the time to mentally list everything.

"-ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED - YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME."

"Serves him right." Blaise stated matter of factly.

The gang left the table together, and made for the greenhouses, where the magical plants were kept. They had herbology with the Hufflepuffs.

As they neared the greenhouses they saw the rest of the class standing outside, waiting for Professor Sprout. The gang had only just joined them when she came striding into view across the lawn, accompanied by Gilderoy Lockhart.

Professor Sprout was a squat little witch who wore a patched hat over her flyaway hair; there was usually a large amount of earth on her clothes and her fingernails would have made Aunt Petunia faint. Gilderoy Lockhart, however, was immaculate in sweeping robes of turquoise, his golden hair shining under a perfectly positioned turquoise hat with gold trimming.

"He looks ridiculous, doesn't he?" Pansy whispered to Harriet, who nodded in agreement.

"Oh, hello there!" Lockhart called, beaming around at the assembled students. "Just been showing Professor Sprout the right way to doctor a Whomping Willow! But I don't want you running away with the idea that I'm better at Herbology than she is! I just happen to have met several of these exotic plants on my travels . . ."

"Greenhouse three today, chaps!" said Professor Sprout, who was looking distinctly disgruntled, not at all her usual cheerful self.

There was a murmur of interest. They had only ever worked in greenhouse one before - greenhouse three housed far more interesting and dangerous plants. Professor Sprout took a large key from her belt and unlocked the door. Harriet caught a whiff of damp earth and fertilizer mingling with the heavy perfume of some giant, umbrella- sized flowers dangling from the ceiling. She wondered if they were poisonous.

Professor Sprout was standing behind a trestle bench in the cen ter of the greenhouse. About forty pairs of different-colored ear muffs were lying on the bench. When Harriet had taken her place between Draco and Pansy, she said, "We'll be repotting Man drakes today. Now, who can tell me the properties of the Man drake?" To nobody's surprise, Sierra's hand was first into the air. Hufflepuff or not, no one could deny that she was the absolute best at Herbology, closely followed by Neville Longbottom.

"Mandrake, or Mandragora, is a powerful restorative," said Sierra, sounding as though she had swallowed the textbook. "It is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed to their original state."

"Excellent. Ten points to Hufflepuff ," said Professor Sprout. "The Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes. It is also, however, dangerous. Who can tell me why?"

Sierras hand shot into the air again. "The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it," she said promptly.

"Precisely. Take another ten points," said Professor Sprout. "Now, the Mandrakes we have here are still very young."

She pointed to a row of deep trays as she spoke, and everyone shuffled forward for a better look. A hundred or so tufty little plants, purplish green in color, were growing there in rows. Harriet eyed them suspiciously. What had Sierra meant by 'cry', exactly?

"Everyone take a pair of earmuffs," said Professor Sprout.

Everyone grabbed a pair, the Hufflepuffs letting the Slytherins pick first. The gesture was much appreciated since nearly no no one wanted one of the fluffy glitter ones that looked like unicorn vomit attached to a headband.  
  
"When I tell you to put them on, make sure your ears are completely covered," said Professor Sprout. "When it is safe to remove them, I will give you the thumbs-up. Right - earmuffs on."

Harriet snapped the earmuffs over her ears. They shut out sound completely. Professor Sprout put a pink, fluffy pair over her own ears, rolled up the sleeves of her robes, grasped one of the tufty plants firmly, and pulled hard.

Instead of roots, a small, muddy, and extremely ugly baby popped out of the earth. The leaves were growing right out of his head. He had pale green, mottled skin, and was clearly bawling at the top of his lungs.

It looked absolutely hideous. Like Dudleys baby photos mixed with mould and explosive diarrhea.

Professor Sprout took a large plant pot from under the table and plunged the Mandrake into it, burying him in dark, damp compost until only the tufted leaves were visible. Professor Sprout dusted off her hands, gave them all the thumbs-up, and removed her own earmuffs.

"As our Mandrakes are only seedlings, their cries won't kill yet," she said calmly as though she'd just done nothing more exciting than water a begonia. "However, they will knock you out for several hours, and as I'm sure none of you want to miss your first day back, make sure your earmuffs are securely in place while you work. I will attract your attention when it is time to pack up.

"Four to a tray - there is a large supply of pots here - compost in the sacks over there - and be careful of the Venemous Tentacula, it's teething."

She gave a sharp slap to a spiky, dark red plant as she spoke, making it draw in the long feelers that had been inching sneakily over her shoulder.  
Harriet, Draco, Pansy and Blaise grabbed a tray.

"Let's get this over with." Pansy said pulling a face. She hated herbology and dirt. Both at the same time was unacceptable.

Harriet shrugged, snapped her earmuffs back on and dove in.

By the end of the class, Harriet, like everyone else, was sweaty, aching, and covered in earth. Everyone sludged back to the castle for a quick wash and then the Slytherins hurried off to Transfiguration.

At lunch, they realised that their next lesson was Defense Against the Dark Arts. That meant Gilderoy Lockhart.

They finished lunch and went toward the classroom. They all walked as slowly as poosible without making it obvious.

Harriet headed for a seat at the very back of the classroom, where she busied herself with piling all seven of Lockhart's books in front of her, so that she could avoid looking at the real thing and hopefully wouldn't be noticed.

When the whole class was seated, Lockhart cleared his throat loudly and silence fell. He reached forward, picked up Neville Longbottom's copy of Travels with Trolls, and held it up to show his own, winking portrait on the front.

"Allow me to present your new defence against the dark arts teacher: Me!" he proclaimed, pointing at it and winking as well. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most- Charming-Smile Award - but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!"

He waited for them to laugh; a few people smiled weakly. Hermione and Lavender Brown seemed to be blushing.

He began handing something out. "I see you've all bought a complete set of my books -well done. I thought we'd start today with a little quiz. Nothing to worry about, just to check how well you've read them, how much you've taken in -"

When he had handed out the test papers he returned to the front of the class and said, "You have thirty minutes - start - now!"

Harriet looked down at her paper and read:

_1.What is Gilderoy Lockhart 's favorite color?_

"This is a joke right?" She whispered to Draco.

"I don't think so. I mean it is 30 pages long." Draco said looking like he'd swallowed a slug.

She read on:

_2.What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?_

_3.What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?_

On and on it went, over three sides of paper, right down to:

_41.When is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday, and what would his ideal gift be?_

Half an hour later, Lockhart collected the papers and rifled through them in front of the class.

"Tut, tut - hardly any of you remembered that my favorite color is lilac. I say so in Year with the Yeti. And a few of you need to read Wanderings with Werewolves more carefully - I clearly state in chapter twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples - though I wouldn't say no to a large bottle of Ogdeds Old Firewhisky!"

He gave them another roguish wink. He bent down behind his desk and lifted a large, covered cage onto it.

"Now - be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind! You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm."

"What is it? Something to mess up his hair? " Draco joked.

"I must ask you not to scream," said Lockhart in a low voice. "It might provoke them."

Lockhart whipped off the cover.

"Yes," he said dramatically. "Freshly caught Cornish pixies. "

"So I was right." Draco said. Harriet tried not to laugh.

"Right, then," Lockhart said loudly. "Let's see what you make of them!"

And he opened the cage.

It was chaos. The pixies shot in every direction like rockets. Two of them seized Vincent Crabbe by the ears and lifted him into the air which was quite a feat considering how much he weighed. Several shot straight through the window, showering the back row with broken glass. The rest proceeded to wreck the classroom more effectively than an angry dragon.

"Come on now - round them up, round them up, they're only pixies," Lockhart shouted.

He rolled up his sleeves, brandished his wand, and bellowed, "Peskipiksi Pesternomi!"

It had absolutely no effect. One of the pixies seized his wand and threw it out of the window, too. Lockhart gulped and dived under his own desk.

The bell rang and there was a rush toward the exit that made kings cross station during buisness hours look like a leisurely stroll.

In the relative calm that followed, Lockhart straightened up, caught sight of Harriet and her friends who were still in the classroom, and said, "Well, I'll ask you three to just nip the rest of them back into their cage." He swept past them and shut the door quickly behind him.

"Coward!" Pansy hissed slinging a hex in the general direction of his escape.

"Can you believe him? Just wait until my father hears about this!" snarled Draco as one of the remaining pixies bit him painfully on the ear.

Harriet whacked two pixies with a book and Pansy stunned some. They continued like this until all the pixies were back in their cages. Then they somehow managed to get Crabbe down from the chandelier.

"The pixies should have thrown Lockhart out of the window after his wand." Harriet twirled her wand between her fingers. "What are the chances we can get rid of him before the end of the year?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof! Long chapter. Kind of don't like writing those, but, well, it happened.  
> Hope everyone is doing well.  
> Comment or Kudo.  
> XOXO, Drachma  
> PS. The exact word count for this chapter is 2021. How cool is that?


	5. Unfortunate Turn of Events

Harriet and Draco were racing through the halls because they were late for class. They had been caught up in argument about Quidditch strategies. Draco was of the opinion that the 'Parkins Pincer' was superior to the 'Thimberling Shuffle'. It was not.

Professor McGonagall lectured them and gave them a detention. Harriet didn't bother arguing. They had already been late three other times that week. It was well deserved.

"A detention? Wait until my father hears about this!" Draco muttered to Harriet as they made their way to their seats.

"He'll tell you it's your own fault. " Harriet sighed, slumping into her chair.

Harriet spent the rest of the lesson pointedly ignoring anyone trying to talk to her, paying one-hundred percent attention and trying to make up for her tardiness by turning an animal into a water goblet with no incidents. Unlike Weasely, who had a half transformed rat goblet that was squeaqing in protest, she actually managed. Only after Professor McGonagall had given her a nod and a sort of compliment during her inspection of the students work, did Harriet allow herself to relax and speak to her friends very quietly.

Draco still wasn't happy about the entire 'detention' situation. Pansy was busy giving a lecture, which Harriet tuned out eventually. She didn't need to feel even worse than she already did.

The three of the left the classroom in silence, not really happy with each other at the moment. Harriet was doing her best to hold back from making some scathing remarks. If Pansy and Draco continued arguing, however, her resolve would wear thin very, very quickly.

Crabbe came up to them.

"I wanted to thank you for not leaving me hanging from a chandelier in a room full of pixies yesterday. That was nice of you," he said.

After what had happened last year? Was he really that suprised?

Before Harriet could do something stupid, Pansy put on a bright smile and said, "No problem, we're friends right?"

"Yeah, we'd have felt guilty if we'd just left you there," Draco added catching on to the look Pansy threw at them. After an elbow in the ribs, so did Harriet.

"No problem. Your house is your family. " Harriet said reciting the lines slytherin prefect Higgs had told her a year prior. She'd heard the phrase so often it sounded like a broken record. Was it really necessary for the older students to repeat it like some sort of cult code?

At lunch , Harriet and Draco both received an owl with their respective detentions written on the piece of paper they were carrying. They both took one look and groaned. This sucked!

"Filch'll have me there all night," said Draco heavily. "No magic! There must be about a hundred trophies in that room. I'm no good at Muggle cleaning and I'm not a house-elf!"

Pansy burst out laughing. "Serves you right!"

"I'd swap anytime," said Harriet hollowly. "I've had loads of practice cleaning stuff. Answering Lockhart's fan mail ... He'll be a nightmare ..."

"Answering fan mail?" Pansy grabbed the note. "Can this guy get any worse?"

"I don't think we want that answered," muttered Harriet, a sinking feeling settling in her stomach. Something told her there was a lot more to the Lockhart situation than originally thought. Did she really want to know what it was though?

' _Yes_ ,' a small voice in the back of her head whispered traitorously, _'you want to know everything. You want to know why you have a bad feeling about Gilderoy Lockhart. Especially since there seems to be no reason for it._ '

Harriet slammed her goblet onto the great hall table. "Dammit." she hissed.

Pansy sent her a questioning glance. Harriet just shook her head in reply. This wasn't something she needed to discuss.

Friday afternoon seemed to melt away like ice in summer, and in what seemed like no time, it was time for their detention sessions, and Harriet was dragging her feet along the second-floor corridor to Lockhart's office. She had never thought she would have preffered to spend time with the grumpy school caretaker, but here she was. Fuelled by curiosity and the hopes to find something to confirm any suspicions, she gritted her teeth and knocked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment or Kudo. The usual, folks!  
> Hope everyone is doing fine.  
> XOXO, Drachma


	6. A reason to listen to your own advice.

The door flew open at once. Lockhart beamed down at her. Harriet briefly debated leaving.

"Ah, here's the scalawag!" he said, grinning brightly. "Come in, Harriet, come in -"

He practically dragged her into the office.

Shining brightly on the walls by the light of many candles were countless framed photographs of Lockhart. He had even signed a few of them. Another large pile lay on his desk. Harriet felt like gagging. She would rather take a months worth of detention with McGonagall rather than this.

"You can address the envelopes!" Lockhart told Harriet, as though this was a huge treat. "This first one's to Gladys Gudgeon, bless her - huge fan of mine -"

The minutes dragged on. Harriet let Lockhart's voice rumble in the background, occasionally saying, "Mmm" and "Right" and "Yeah". Now and then she caught a phrase like, "Fame's a fickle friend, Harriet," or "Celebrity is as celebrity does, remember that".

She was waiting for the whole "back in my day..." to start but, considering how many adresses she was copying onto envelopes it was probably still Lockharts day.

Unfortunately.

The candles had melted down to stumps. Harriet moved her aching hand over what felt like the thousandth envelope, writing out Veronica Smethley's address. It must be nearly time to leave, Harriet thought miserably, please let it be nearly time...

And then she heard something - something quite apart from the spitting of the dying candles and Lockhart's prattle about his fans.

It was a voice, a voice to chill the bone marrow, a voice of breathtaking, ice-cold venom.

"Come ... come to me.... Let me rip you.... Let me tear you .... Let me kill you . . . ."

Harriet gave a huge jump and a large lilac blot appeared on Veronica Smethley's street.

"What?" She said loudly.

"I know!" said Lockhart. "Six solid months at the top of the best- seller list! Broke all records!"

Harriet who had Acctually meant the voice decided to play it cool. 

"That's amazing!" She said.

Then she let Lockhart babble on and went back to writing adresses. Then finally, finally, she was released from this hell. 

"Great Scott - look at the time! We've been here nearly four hours! Id never have believed it - the time's flown, hasn't it?" Lockhart exclaimed.

Harriet didn't answer. She was straining her ears to hear the voice again, but there was no sound now except for Lockhart telling her she mustn't expect a treat like this every time he got detention. Feeling dazed and nodding, Harriet left.

It was so late that the Slytherin common room was almost empty, aside from some fith-years who were cracking open something that smelled suspiciously like whiskey. 

Harriet ignored them and went straight up to the dormitory. In a quiet voice that was almost a whisper she told Pansy, who was miraculously still awake, what had happened. Pansy looked shocked when she got to the voice, but then put on a straight face and told Harriet to blame Peeves the Poltergeist.

It was a simple enough answer and a fairly logical conclusion. Still, Harriet lay awake thinking and came to the conclusion that it had not, in fact, been Peeves. Something strange was afoot in Hogwarts again and she would find out what it was, despite her better judgement.

October arrived, spreading a damp chill over the grounds and into the castle. The kind that seeped into your clothes and followed you everywhere. Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, was kept busy by a sudden spate of colds among the staff and students. Her Pepperup potion worked instantly, though it left the drinker smoking at the ears for several hours afterward. Some of the older Slytherins started running a successful black market on cold healing potions.

Harriet was fairly sure Snape was secretley supervising the production.

Raindrops thundered on the castle windows for days on end. The lake rose, the flower beds turned into muddy streams, and Hagrid's pumpkins swelled to the size of garden sheds.

Draco, Pansy and Harriet were walking along a corridor on the second floor, when they came across a flooded area. It kind of stank.

"Did someone leave the windows open too long?" Pansy asked.

"Smells more like someone blew up the toilets." Draco wrinkled his nose.

Harriet chuckled. "We'd know what that smells like," she muttered.

And then she heard it.

". . . rip . . . tear . . . kill . . ."

It was the same voice, the same cold, murderous voice she had heard in Lockhart's office.

'Don't follow it,' she told herself, 'This is going to be dangerous.'

Ever adept at following her own advice, she sprinted after it.

"This way," she shouted, to her friends.

"Harriet, what're we -"

"SHH!"

Harriet strained her ears. Distantly, from the floor above, and growing fainter still, she heard it.

". . . I smell blood. . . . I SMELL BLOOD!"

Harriet hurtled around the whole of the second floor, Draco and Pansy panting behind her, not stopping until they turned a corner into the last, deserted passage. Harriet pulled out her wand and stepped forward through the ankle deep water.

"Harriet, what was that all about?" said Draco, wiping sweat off his face. "I couldn't hear anything. . . ."

But Pansy gave a sudden gasp, pointing down the corridor.

"Look!"

Something was shining on the wall ahead. They approached slowly, squinting through the darkness. Foot-high words had been daubed on the wall between two windows, shimmering in the light cast by the flaming torches:

The chamber of secrets has been opened again. Enemies of the heir, beware.

"Not the best poetry." Harriet commented dryly.

"What's that thing - hanging underneath?" said Pansy , she looked ready to faint.

They inched toward the message, eyes fixed on a dark shadow beneath it. All three of them realized what it was at once, and leapt backward with a splash. Mrs. Norris,the caretaker's cat, was hanging by her tail from the torch bracket. She was stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring.

Looking closer, Harriet realised that the message had been written in something red. Was it blood?

For a few seconds, nobody moved. Pansy seemed to be holding her breath. 

Then Draco said, "Let's get out of here."

"Good idea." Pansy said, grabbing Harriets arm and dragging her away from the scene.

Later they found out that Mrs. Norris had been petrified, the news spreadkng like wildfire regardless of how the teachers tried to keep it under wraps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If people are wondering why I'm posting chapters in bulk right now, it's currently the school holiday so I have far more time for editing and posting.  
> Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the story so far.  
> Thanks to all my readers.  
> Comment or Kudo,  
> XOXO Drachma


	7. Yelling and Investigations

Harriet woke up in a strange position. During the night, she had somehow managed to sleep-climb onto the chandelier and was hanging upside down. As far as she could tell it was 7o'clock on a Saturday. She attempted to neatly climb down an ended up falling on her face, ever the epitome of grace. 

She pulled on some jeans and a T-shirt with some kind of half-assed motivational quote on it.

Passing through the common room, she took a minute to glance at the notice board.

"Duelling club. Open for all. Tuesday 7pm. Great hall. Sounds like fun," she said to herself. Then she went down to the great hall to eat breakfast.

A while later she and the rest of her friends, 'the gang' as Blaise insisted on calling them, were sitting in an abandoned classroom. 

"You're hearing voices!"Pansy snapped at her,"That's not normal. Not even for a wizard . It's really creepy!"

"But still, It is pretty cool." Blaise said.

"Cool? My best friend is hearing voices, We found a petrified cat, I'm willing to bet there's some kind of giant evil and all you can say is it's cool?" Pansy snapped at him. Needless to say, she was pissed off and perhaps terrified.

Harriet sighed and placed her head in her hands. This again? Really? They had been arguing about her hearing voices and wether it was a good thing or bad thing for at least 2 weeks. Personally, she didn't care! She could hear voices and that was that. 

Harriet had more important things to do. 

Like the search for Tom Riddle's diary. It kept leading her to the Gryffindor tower or somewhere else. The thing was, Ginny Weasley was always present. Logical conclusion: Ginny Weasley had the diary. She had no idea how she was going to get it. She had been keeping Tom updated. He occasionally wrote back, but never anything interesting.

She drummed on the desk she was sitting on, thinking. Draco was reading a potions book. It was probably from the restricted section of the library. Honestly, Lockhart would put his signature on anything these days. 

Pansy and Blaise were still arguing and didn't seem like they were going to stop. Amina and Elizabeth were placing bets.

Theo finished his homework. All of it. He had started it when Pansy had brought up the voice. He looked out of the window not really seeing anything because of the fog. He thought about it: a voice without a body, dead roosters (the news had arrived this morning ) and a petrified cat. Not that he didn't think Mrs. Norris deserved it, because she did, he just thought that if a cat was petrified, mabye a student would be too. 

He thought about what McGonagall had told him about how the chamber of secrets had been built by Salazar Slytherin who decided Muggle-borns were unworthy of magic. That meant that they would be next. If the chamber had indeed been opened, it could be something else. Still, there were plenty of Muggle-born students in Ravenclaw. Not as many as in Hufflepuff but still enough to be worried about. His friend (crush - but that's not important) Cassandra Baker was a Muggle-born. 

OK , now he was really worried. 

He glanced at Harriet, who sat deeply in thought, with her frown. She seemed worried. Not to mention the fact that she was hearing voices. Did she know something they didn't again?

" - and that is why it is not good hearing voices!" Pansy finished.

"Mabye what McGonagall told Theo about the snake in the chamber of secrets is correct and Harriet is just a parselmouth. Ever thought if that." Blaise countered. 

"If she was a parselmouth she would have told us!" Pansy stated angrily. 

"Or Mabye she doesn't know!" Blaise suggested.

"I'm sitting right here guys!" Harriet interrupted, angrily. 

"We know!"

"Have you ever talked to a snake?" Draco asked bored from a window. He was fed up with Pansy and Blaise's constant arguing. 

"Once, yes. I accidentally set a boa constrictor on my cousin in the zoo. That was before I even knew about magic- er, why are you all staring at me?"

"You're a parselmouth! " Pansy shrieked flailing her arms.

Harriet started at her blankly. She blinked twice. Then-

"Merlins arse!" she cursed, "It's true. If I'm a parselmouth and there's a deadly snake moving around the castle, it's no wonder no one else can hear the voice then. Because they don't speak snake! Now, the question remains who opened the chamber? I mean if it is as I suspect, and it usually is, then we need to figure out where the chamber is, catch the culprit and turn them in."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"So, what's the plan?" asked Theo.

"What makes you think you're joining?" Millicent Bulstrode asked from where she sat.

"I was invited by Draco. I assumed you had a plan that involved me." He shrugged.

"Honestly, I have no idea what more than half the people in this room are doing here." Harriet spoke up. "No offence, but I only invited, like, two of you..."

"I invited the girls." Pansy said. "Their in our dorm and after that promise we made last year, I thought I could clue them in!"

"I heard she invited them so I asked Crabbe, Goyle, Theo and Blaise to come!" Draco shrugged.

"They're just your friends, that's not the same thing!"

"How is that not the same thing?"

"Okay!" Harriet decided to stop the building argument. She was not in the mood for another fight. "If anyone wants to bring anyone to a meeting like this, ask me first and don't tell them about it until I give you permission. Three people knowing about this was already one too many for my liking."

"Or you could just trust us!" Pansy insisted.

"If anyone leaks anything, I will hex them and the person they told." Harriet warned.

"Noted," Draco said, looking a bit paler.

"I still think you should trust us!" Pansy insisted. "We're you're friends!"

"No offence, but I barely know half of you!" Harriet snapped.

"And whose fault is that?" Pansy was mad.

"Some people don't trust as easily as others," Draco said, deciding to step in.

"Oh, so your saying that she shouldn't trust us?"

"He never said that." Harriet looked at her. "Pansy, I think you're overreacting a bit. Why don't you calm down?"

Wrong thing to say. So, so, so wrong.

More than half the atendees fled the room, leaving only Harriet and Draco to face the storm. Harriet agreed in a hurry to tell them if she needed them to do something or other in regards to the apparant Chamber of Secrets opening.

Pansy was yelling, practically screaming at them. Apparently Harriet never told them anything and knew everything and that wasn't okay for some reason. Either way, it didn't matter. They were being yelled at.

Draco noticed Harriet folding in on herself more and more as Pansy progressed. She looked close to tears.

"Okay," he said, placing himself between the two. "You need to stop. Can't you see you're making her cry?"

Pansy did stop, take a look at Harriet, another look at Draco and stormed out of the room. The door slammed behind her.

"You okay?" Draco asked Harriet. It would have taken someone literally blind and deaf to not not notice the fact that she wasn't.

"Alright," he decided, "I'm going to bore you with this morning's prophet because I don't know how to talk about feelings."

Two hours later, when Harriet seemed calm enough, Harriet and Draco decided to go look around the castle for potential hidden entrances to the chamber of secrets.

They even searched the secret passageways Harriet had found the year prior. Nothing.

"I didn't even know you found these!" Draco exclaimed, "This is brilliant!"

"I needed somewhere to be alone for a while." Harriet shrugged.

"Okay, well your secret is safe with me." He grinned at her. 

Towards the end of the search, Harriet jokingly suggested they try moaning Myrtle's bathroom. All they got was a screaming ghost. They walked back to the common room dissapointed.

Draco suggested a round of chess that he ended up losing as well as the rematches that followed. He had come pretty close to winning one time though, that had to be said.

That evening Harriet made a case board that held the facts and hid it under her bed. She also made a long list of suspects. 

The next day was spent mostly in the library researching the Chamber of Secrets, with help from Theo. There wasn't much to be found unfortunately.

Draco and Blaise had secretly poured truth potions they got from Salazar-knew-where into drinks and asked if anyone knew anything. After a while they had given up. It was a waste of resources to continue.

Pansy hadn't really been speaking to Harriet. That, and Harriet had been actively avoiding her... friend? Were they still friends? She hoped so. They'd have to talk about it some time soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The drama!  
> *laughs evilly*  
> I'm sorry. *slides you all cookies*  
> Comment or leave a star!  
> XOXO, Drachma


	8. Lockhart gets his ass kicked!

It was tuesday evening. Excitedly, the students stood in the great hall. Draco and Blaise were making bets on who would be their Duelling teacher.

Harriet told them she didn't care a single bit as long as it wasn't -

"Hello dear students! Allow me to introduce your new Duelling teacher. Me. Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most - Charming-Smile Award."

Harriet face palmed. This was what nightmares should be made of. Draco placed a hand on her shoulder to keep her from leaving and whispered," Wait until my father hears about this!" with as much venom as possible. Harriet rolled her eyes. She doubted Lucius Malfoy gave a care as to who was teaching them.

"Now allow me to introduce my assistant, who was courageous enough to volunteer, Professor Snape!" Lockhart gave a smile and swept aside to reveal a very grumpy looking potions master.

"Oh no," Blaise whispered, "I can feel my grades dropping in the next week."

"If you did your homework, you'd be safe!" Harriet hissed quietly.

She pushed forward to get a better view. She didn't want to miss a single second of Lockhart being hit by a hex or a curse. If it was wrong to take joy in other peoples pain... well, this should be an exception. Reading Lockharts books had been torture and his classes could be placed into the same category. It was a suprise anyone was still sane.

"Professor Dumbledore has given me permission to start this Duelling club, to train you all incase you ever need to defend yourselves as I have done on many occasions - for full details see my public works," Lockhart said.

"Product Placement seems to be a hobby of his." Blaise commented quietly. 

"Yes, maybe it's his secret talent. Remember the anti wrinkle lotion in class last week? Why the hell would we buy or need that. Who would even be interested. We're 12, not 50!" Draco agreed.

"I can't even remember what it is called."

Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed; at least Lockhart did, with as much twirling of hands as possible, whereas Snape jerked his head irritably. Then they raised their wands in front of them like swords.

" Clearly, we are holding our wands in a combative position. On the count of three we will cast our first spells. Neither aiming to kill obviously. " Lockhart explained.

"Bet Snape wishes it was." Blaise chuckled.

"One- Two - Three-"

Before Lockhart could even open his mouth, Snape yelled, "Expelliarmus!"

There was a flash of red light and Lockhart's wand flew out of his hand whilst he was blasted backwards off his feet. He slid along the floor for about 10 metres. 

"Bet he regrets wearing silk now."

Harriet glanced around. A couple steps away Millicent and Pansy were snickering to themselves. Hurriedly she looked away. They probably didn't want to talk to her. Even if they did, that could wait.

Lockhart wobbled to his feet.

"Ah yes, good idea of yours to show them that Professor. Disarming charms are very useful. Of course, in a real fight I would've won." He stated smiling around at the students.

"As if!" Harriet and Draco said in perfect sync. Blaise gave a snort of laughter.

Lockhart and Snape then put them in pairs to practice disarming and disarming only. Lockhart did most of the pairing, declaring that this was a good way to make friends.

Harriet who was paired with ginger weasel was sure of one thing. Making friends was in neither of their interests.

She would have loved to set him on fire but his wand was probably still able to do that judging by the state of it. There was a cacoon of spell-o-tape around it.

" Scared Potter? " he asked at the same time Lockhart yelled begin. Harriet wasted no time.

"Ex fenestram in murum" She yelled.

Weasel flew around the room crashing into every window and wall at least once. She was suprised when he got back to his feet and cried,"Bombarda."

Harriet dodged, rolled under the platform, jumped up and directed another spell at Weasley. He dodged and yelled ," Serpensorcia."

A snake flew in her direction. She dodged and mentally cursed him, backing away from the snake that had turned on her.

"Heard you were the heir of Slytherin, Potter! Why don't you just tell it to back off?"

A loud gasp ran through the hall. Harriet took a deep breath. Now was not the time for murder. She had to get away from that snake without speaking.

It lunged for her.

"Dammit!" she cursed leaping out of the way. The word, unfortunately, came out as a hiss. Some people shrieked and rushed to a different area of the hall.

Professor Snape quickly stepped forward and turned the snake into ashes. He gave Weasley a detention for almost releasing a deadly snake on the school and a lecture that would normally have been the talk of the school in the next two or three weeks, cancelling out all other gossip.

"I - er - think that's enough for today," Lockhart stammered looking pale, "I'm sure you're all tired. Not everyone can practice as long as someone as talented at duelling as myself... Yes, I think we'll end it here for today."

Everyone rushed out of the hall. Harriet left as one of the last.

"You okay?" Draco asked her.

"Yeah," Harriet said, "Except..."

"Except what?"

"Weasel said 'heard you were the heir of Slytherin?'. Why would he say that specifically? It's not like he knew I was a Parselmouth..." She stopped in a dungeon passage leading to the common room. Draco and Blaise stopped too.

"Do you think anyone could have told him about it?" Blaise looked nervous.

Draco looked uncomfortable. "That would mean that someone is a traitor."

"How else would he know?" Harriet racked her brains. Who could it be?

"Well," Blaise said, "It's probably not someone from our group... I mean, Draco and I haven't told anyone and Crabbe and Goyle have probably forgotten already."

"That leaves Millicent, Theo, Amina, Elizabeth and - I hate to say it - Pansy!"

"You think Pansy told him?" Harriet stared at him as if he'd grown another head.

"No, well, maybe I - I listed other suspects too! And you two were the ones that were fighting!" Draco shrugged helplessly.

"I thought you'd known her since childhood?"

"Harriet, while that is true, people change! Maybe that's what happened."

"I just don't see her being that petty!" Harriet looked to Blaise for help.

He rolled his eyes. "Maybe you don't see her as being 'that petty', but she isn't exactly sunshine, now is she?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who do you think is the rat? I'm curious.
> 
> Let me know in the comments.
> 
> Leave a star if you liked this part,
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> XOXO, Drachma
> 
> (A/N: Ex fenestram in murum means 'from the window to the wall' in Latin. The song was playing on the radio.)


	9. Get the Book!

The day after the duelling club was interesting. Interesting in that everyone, except those in her immediate inner circle, left at least two metres between her and them. Provided they had no other choice, obviously.

Normally she would pay more attention to it. Today however, she found she didn't care. The whole 'heir of Slytherin' thing would blow over soon enough. Surely, no one was stupid enough to believe that for an extended amount of time...

For now she had to get Tom's diary, pass her classes and figure out this whole 'Chamber of Secrets' thing that was going on that was _not her fault no matter how many people thought it was_.

She had two thirds of the mess figured out already. Tom's diary was in Ginny Weasleys backpack and her classes were easy. The chamber of secrets was... _a running investigation_.

Harriet crept along the corridor quietly following Ginny Weasley. She was with a group of friends. That made it tricky to get the book without anyone noticing. She needed a diversion to open Ginny's bag. Then she would use a summoning charm to get the diary an send it to Tom per owl post. At least, that was the plan. 

She probably had to rethink half of it. She looked around. Using a spell, she knocked over a vase near Ginny. It crashed to the floor. The girls shrieked. Quickly, Harriet used Alohomora to open the lock on Ginny's bag. Then she used a summoning charm.The diary flew out of the bag into her waiting hands.

Harriet raced into the owlery , wrapped up the diary in some package paper and gave it to Hedwig to take to Tom. Then she let out a sigh of relief. Phew! That was finally out of the way and so much easier than epected. Momentarily she wondered if she should feel guilty for stealing from another student, but it hadn't really been Ginny's diary in the first place, had it?

She skipped all the way to the Defense against the dark arts classroom getting a few wierd looks. Some looks were on the verge of terrified. A Slytherin smiling!? The potential heir of slytherin smiling!?

That could only mean some sort of trouble. Either someone they didn't like was in the hospital wing or they were planning something evil or they had done something particularly evil. 

Harriet was just happy her plan had worked.

She siezed the seat at the back of the classroom next to Draco, pointedly ignoring Pansy. She could deal with that drama later. 

Lockhart walzed in like he was the king of the world and Harriets good mood dissapeared. He beamed at the students sitting in his classroom. 

"How are we all today?" He asked. Harriet glowered at him. 

She would have loved to zone out completely, but she had to pretend to be productive. That, and Draco prodded her constantly to ask what a word like 'gnarlegnomephopia' meant. Harriet was pretty sure Lockhart didn't know what half of them meant either, judging by the sentences he used them in. You couldn't use gnarlegnomephopia against a gnome because a) it meant fear of gnomes, b) it was only discovered in humans and c) a gnome couldn't be scared of itsself.

Well, it could, but that had some deeper rooted issue like a curse or enchantment.

Also, why the hell were they studying de-gnome garden hacks. It wasn't even on the syllabus. She tried to burn Lockhart with a glare and spitefully turned a page.

Draco leaned over to her and whispered, "I can't wait for this lesson to be over. I'm so glad we have potions next."

"I wouldn't even mind History of Magic. Nothing sucks more than this!" she replied.

The last ten minutes of the lesson dragged by like an unconcious troll. She made a mental note to find out if you could file a complaint against a teacher with no talent. She hoped it was possible.

After class had finished she was the first one out of the classroom, Draco hot on her heels and Blaise being dragged along. They practically leapt down the stairs to the dungeons and onward to potions.

Potions lessons were, without a doubt, Draco's favourite subject. He was rather good at them too. Harriet was in permanent denial of the fact that she was any good at them, consistently finding things to improve on. 

It reminded her of cooking as well. Not something she minded in general, but something she had been made to do way too often to find much joy in it.

Harriet turned her attention towards the potion she was making. It stank. The worst part was that the dungeon had no windows. She felt sorry for the next class. She hoped wizards had something similar to Febreeze. 

Maybe she should get Snape some for Christmas. She wouldn't blame his general unenthusiasim in teaching on him if the smell of the classroom was the reason. That, and it really couldn't be fun getting magic smoke residue in your hair all the time.

As soon as class was over everyone dashed to the great hall for lunch. After she'd eaten Harriet raced to the bathroom. She really needed to pee! The toilets on the ground and first floor were out of order because of a plumbing issue.

That left the second floor. Slytherin's monster be damned she would relieve herself. Besides, it wasn't out of order because of plumbing issues, it was just haunted. 

She finished her business quickly and made to walk out when she heard a sob coming out of a nearby stall. Someone else was in here? She walked over and knocked.

"Is everything OK in there?" She asked.

There was a wail and a ghost shot through the cubicle door and hovered over the sinks.  
"What makes you think I'm okay?" The ghost screeched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't you just hate it when the school bathrooms don't work? Don't have that problem with online classes!
> 
> Thanks to all my readers!
> 
> Comment or leave a star!
> 
> XOXO, Drachma


	10. Making friends with a Ghost

"I just wanted to know why you were crying! " Harriet said defensively. _You try to help ONE time!_

"I've been dead 50 years and people still won't cease to make fun of me. Moaning Myrtle they call me. HA!" The ghost snapped. 

Ugh. A bullied ghost. Just what she needed. Harriet felt sympathetic, she really did, but there was a time you just had to suck it up and deal with it.

"That's not very nice of them." It came out drier and less feeling than Harriet had intended but it seemed to help a bit.

"Of course not. Why else would I have been crying?" Myrtle sniffed. Her eyes would have been red and puffy had she still been alive.

Suddenly, Harriet realized something. It dropped into her mind about as gently as a meteor.

"Wait, er - Myrtle, you died 50 years ago?" she asked.

"Yes." the ghost looked confused.

"When the chamber of secrets was last opened?" 

"Yes."

"Do you mind if I ask how you died?" Harriet questioned, immediately regretting it. 

Funnily enough, Myrtle smiled as if no one had ever asked her something as nice.

"Oh, it was horrible! " Myrtle said happily," I was hiding in this bathroom because some girls were chasing me. Myrtle Murping they called it."

"My cousin and his friends used to do that to me during summer. They called it Harry Hunting."

Myrtle beamed, her face lighting up as if she was being raised from the dead.

That wasn't legally possible though. Necromancy had been forbidden in the early 1600's. 

A book had mentioned it being because of someone performing a sort of C-section and both the mother and child dying, but then the wizard felt really guilty and brought the child back to life so he could later kill someone who had drunk unicorn blood (or had it slipped into his tea - the details were a little fuzzy). At some point a muggle author had included it in his play which had led to the investigation of the exact situation and mass memory correction (memory wiping) in Great Britain and Ireland. Either way, that specific part of the pre-ministry Assosiation of Magical Peackeeping (A.M.P) must have had a field day.

Myrtle continued,"Someone knocked on the door. I thought it was them so I opened it to tell them to piss off but instead there were two yellow eyes staring right at me from that sink over there. I blacked out and when I came around I was already dead." 

"That does sound horrible." Harriet said, "Thanks for telling me. I'm sorry I have to go. I need to get to history of Magic. Can I come back if have more questions?"

"Oh , no worries. You're welcome back into my bathroom anytime." The ghost was beaming and looked... less dead, if that was possible.

"Thanks, Myrtle." Harriet said smiling.

The next day brought a giant shock for everyone. Theo's crush had been petrified by Slytherin's monster and Harriet told Draco and Blaise about Myrtle. They seemed more shocked by the ghost story than by the misfortune of another student.

"She screamed in our faces!" Draco complained, "How are you suddenly chummy with her?"

"She's acctually pretty nice and she gave me a hint as to what might be in the Chamber of Secrets. Glowing yellow eyes! Are there any snakes with glowing yellow eyes in the beastiary?" Harriet asked excitedly.

They were closer to solving the mystery!

"It narrows our search down to fourteen of the ones you picked out." Draco said.

"Maybe they were just yellow and she was exagerating?" Blaise suggested, unhelpfully.

Harriet sighed. That might be true, but it would be unspectacular and the snake would quite possibly be too mundane for the job.

"Twenty then." Draco yawned. He streched and looked around. "Oh, and by the way, does anyone know where Theo is? I haven't seen him all day. We were supposed to meet at breakfast!"

"Hospital wing with Cassie. Honestly, the guy is _hopeless_!" Blaise answered.

"Who's Cassie?" Draco asked.

"Theo's crush," Harriet said, "He never stops talking about her! I don't know how you missed that!"

"Oh..." Draco said. He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. 

On the way to transfiguration, Harriet had a feeling something bad was about to happen. She couldn't quite place it, it was just an odd gut feeling. Not wanting to be caught unawares she picked up the pace, turned a corner and -

was greeted with a wand in her face. Arguably not the best situation to be in.

"Excuse me?" she uttered in confusion.

Theo looked kind of green and was shaking a bit, but he stood his ground even when Draco whipped his wand out and aimed it at him with a determination that was unusual for his character.

"Don't you dare try." he growled, glowering.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *The good the bad and the ugly playing in the background*
> 
> I kinda want to apologise for the cliffhanger but... NAH!
> 
> Thank you for reading, comment or leave a star,
> 
> XOXO, Drachma


	11. A Hogwarts Standoff

The situation was awkward to say the least.

Theo was threatening Harriet, Draco was threatening Theo and Blaise was standing uselessly a couple of feet away.

"Drop it!" Pansy hissed pointing her wand at Draco.

Wrong move. Harriet raised her wand and aimed it at Pansy. "After you, mate."

"Erm, guys?" Blaise asked nervously, "Can we do this some other way? Everyone is staring at us."

He motioned vaguely to the rest of the class who were all staring at them from various defensive positions. Harriet noticed with glee that Weasel looked like he was going to wet himself from where he cowered behind a statue.

"Guys?" Blaise tried again.

Harriet smirked. "Sure we can settle this some other way, after they drop their wands."

"We're not that stupid!" Pansy huffed.

"Sure about that?" Harriet raised an eyebrow.

Pansy's wand was now also pointed at her face. Great. _Absolutely wonderful_.

"Okay, deep breaths everyone," Blaise tried. "Deep breaths. Go to your happy place!"

"I don't think Harriet has a happy place," Pansy hissed, "Or she wouldn't be seeking to control Hogwarts."

OH! It all fell into place. Pansy thought Harriet was the heir of Slytherin! All because she didn't overshare? Or was it because she was a parselmouth? She'd probably told Weasel too, just out of spite.

"Correction, Parkinson, I don't have a happy place because you're here!" Harriet growled. She was pissed off and armed. "Why don't you do me a favour and transfer to Beauxbatons like you kept saying you would if things got too creepy? Or isn't it creepy enough yet? Does someone need to die?"

Pansy paled and took half a step back.

"So you are the heir of Slytherin!" Theo looked aghast.

"She's not!" Draco snapped, straightning up like he was ready to cast a curse. He sounded so sure that some of the students watching calmed down a bit. Others stuck their heads together and were probably discussing the rumour trainwreck once more.

Harriet eyed them and then noticed the clocktower through the window.

"We don't have time for this," Harriet decided. She grabbed Draco and motioned for Blaise to follow. "Come on. We have Transfiguration."

If they were late to McGonagall's class, they wouldn't have the time to hex each other later. Harriet had a couple of nasty ones she was dying to try out. Why couldn't she just hole up in the library where it was nice and quiet and where nothing ever happened?

The students filed into their seats silently, some of them still in awe or shock of what they had just seen.

Professor McGonagall came in, green robes swishing behind her.

"Students, settle down please. Today we are transforming powder boxes into pocket watches."

A murmer of interest ran through the class. 

"The spell we will be using is _Vigilate de pulvere_. The wand movement is like so." She told them demonstrating the movement. Some of the class copied the pattern her wand drew as a way to memorize.

Then they were set to work. Harriet managed it pretty quickly, although her watch had a slightly agressive tik-tok noise that was louder than it needed to be. Draco managed it after three tries and a bit of guidance. Blaise managed it... in his own time and spent a while sulking about it. 

Weasel almost blew up his desk. 

Hermione Granger had finished around the same time as Harriet and was now making conversation.

"- and I think everyone should do their best." Hermione finished her small speech.

"I agree. I myself was raised by Muggles and I think it's such a waste of potential to not do your best in every subject. I really appreciate the chance I got to come to Hogwarts and I can't believe that someone would just give it up." Harriet said. 

"I understand completely." Granger was nodding. Then her eyes went wide. "Wait, raised by muggles? So you aren't the heir of Slytherin?"

Harriet rolled her eyes. "What do you think? My mother was most likely muggleborn. I might be a pureblood on paper, but many would argue that I'm actually a half-blood because of her."

"Most likely?"

"Never knew my grand-parents."

"But what about your fathers side? Maybe you're related to Salazar Slytherin through him?"

"I don't see why we have to talk about my family! Let's just leave that subject alone," Harriet snapped.

"I'm sorry,"Granger said, sounding regretfull. "I know how hard this must be for you."

Harriet almost hexed her. The effort was appreciated, but honestly? Bringing up the subject shouldn't even have occured as an option. She didn't need to be reminded of everything her childhood had been missing! _Thank you very much_!

That evening Hedwig dropped a letter on Harriets face while she was sitting in the corner of the owlery, avoiding her problems.

The handwriting already told her who it was from. It read:

_Hello Harriet,_

_I hope you are well. I heard that the chamber of secrets was opened again._

_I do believe that was my fault._

Wait, what?

_Apologies._ _I do believe my diary got into someone_ _else's_ _hands before yours._

Well, yeah, Sherlock! That was to be expected.

_I'm afraid that due_ _to_ _the fact that putting a piece of your soul into an object is dark magic and the results can lead to evil deeds if in the hands of anyone but the owner. Sorry I forgot to mention that. Thank you for getting it back._

_If I can offer any help to the closing of the Chamber of Secrets, do inform me. The same situation turned into a tragedy fifty years ago._

_Sincerely,_

_Tom M. Riddle_

Harriet stared at the letter. Perfect, just Perfect. 

Hold on a second, Tom was at Hogwarts 50 years ago? He was older than her parents! And he had essentially just admitted to being the heir of Slytherin! Had he already placed a fragment of his soul in the diary back then or... _had he opened the chamber?_

She would dwell on that later. She finished off her homework and went straight from the owlery to bed. Her dreams were about as sweet as lemon juice. She kept dreaming of an angry, 16 ft snake. In a certain light one may have been able to call it cute!

You know, like dragons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd apologise for the added drama but I'm having too much fun with this.
> 
> Comment or kudo! I appreciate them!
> 
> XOXO, Drachma


	12. Weasleys: Part 1

The next day Harriet was walking along the corridor quietly. The castle seemed so empty given the fact that a lot of the students had gone home for the Easter holidays. Harriet didn't want to disturb the peace. She took her usual route past Filch's office where she, almost always, met the Weasley twins.

She felt kind of bad for not hanging out with them more often but being in different year groups made that exceedingly difficult. That and they seemed to be trying to set a record for most detentions in half a school year.

"What did you do this time?" She asked cheerfully.

"We may have pulled something on Lockhart," Fred began.

"It was his own fault really." George added.

"Tell me about it!"Harriet grinned. This was bound to be good.

"Yes ma'am!" They said simultaneously.

The began to tell her about how Lockhart had given all those who hadn't known his favourite colour was lilac a 'D'. By the time they had finished describing his reaction to a bucket of every colored waterproof paint over his head, Harriet was almost in tears. She wished someone had recorded a video.

It was hard to believe that they were related to Weasel. The ingenuity they possessed was unmachted.

After the giggles had died down, Harriet took a deep breath.

"Can I take this as you two not thinking I'm the heir of Slytherin?" She asked hopefully.

"So that's what's on your mind!" Fred said.

"Is this because of that rumour started by Ronniekins?" George frowned, scrutinizing her as if trying to read her mind.

"It's gotten a bit out of hand, that's all." Harriet muttered, scuffing her shoe on the floor.

"Oh dear, I hoped no one would pay attention to the stupid comments he made." Fred rolled his eyes. "People these days. Don't think!"

"Think we knew that already, Fred," his twin gave a matching eyeroll. "Question is, how do we put a dampner on the current situation?"

"Only prefects or headboys and girls can theoretically do that. Least they can stomp out puplic discussions... I mean we can treat it like a joke to stop people taking it as seriously, but ultimately..."

"Not much we can do..."

"So, what now?" Harriet asked, hating how unsure she sounded.

"For now?" George looked at his brother.

"I'd say get on Percy's good side? I mean you're pretty much on the fence there..." Fred trailed off.

"Fact is," George continued, "If you're on his good side, he'll do his best to stamp out any negative rumours about you. He might be a bit of a pompous prat and a little insane when it comes to school, but he's a good friend to have. Just like you!"

"All we can really do is vouch for you."

Harriet's jaw dropped. "You'd do that?"

"Yeah!" Fred studied her for a second. "Are you always this suprised when someone has your back?"

"Didn't have a lot of friends before last year."

"C'mere!" George said dragging her into a bear hug, the kind only older brothers are experts in and Harriet was completely unfamilliar with. "You have the two of us, if nothing else."

"Yeah," Fred dragged her into another hug, "Anything troubling you, annoying you or scaring you - you can bring it to us. No matter what."

"Thank you!" She said, the words being muffled by shirt.

"That being said," George said, "You look like you need to talk about something. What's wrong?"

The concern in their faces and understanding in their words made the dam break and everything came spilling ot of her. The way the last year ended, the way the new one began, how she and the others had found the cat and the words, how she and Pansy were fighting, how nearly everyone thought she was the heir of Slytherin and how one of her friends had probably started the rumour. She told them how scared she had been when she had gotten a _wand pointed in her face_ and how _she didn't know who she could trust._

"That -" Fred started.

"Is a lot." George finished.

Harriet sniffed. When had she started crying? Hurriedly, she scrubbed her face with her sleeve, smudging her glasses quite a bit.

"It's okay, it's okay," Fred said, gently taking her arm and guiding her to sit down on some nearby stairs. "Let's put our heads together, we can figure something out!"

George started dabbing at her face with a hankerchief.

It took a while, but eventually Harriet stopped crying. "Thanks, guys." she hiccuped.

"No problem."

"Tell you what," Fred told her, "leave the perpetrators to us. Focus on your classes and spend more time with us and your friends. Can you do that?"

Harriet nodded. Her voice probably still sounded like a toad with a throat disease.

"Don't worry," George reassured. "It'll all pass eventually."

Harriet dearly hoped so.

The following weeks were pretty much all the same for her. She'd go to class, hang out in Myrtle's bathroom with Draco and Blaise during break, sit in her bubble at lunch and return to Myrtle's bathroom after the final class of the day to finish her homework and read to the ghost, who seemed more than happy to listen.

On the weekends, she sought out the Weasley twins or joined one of Percy Weasleys tutoring sessions for charms.

She realised quickly that getting Percy to like you as a person, meant accepting or asking for his help when you needed it. Aparrantly, that showed humility.

Unfortunately, it took a lot of resolve to ask for help.

The second years had all recieved lists of what subjects they would take on as electives in their third year.

Care of Magical Creatures and Divination was mandatory until fith year. Harriet had already elected Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. As for the other subjects... she had no clue where to begin.

She waited until the tutoring session was over and walked over to Percy.  
"Er -" How to go about this? "Got a minute?" she asked.

"Of course, Harriet. What can I do for you?" Percy smiled.

Despite being strict and stern most of the time, Percy Weasley (as one discovered after a while of being tutored) did not, in fact, have a stick up his derriere. Like with Fred and George, it was hard to believe he was related to Weasel. He was suprisingly patient and really nice when you weren't in trouble. He sometimes reminded Harriet of Professor McGonagall.

"I - um -"

Why was aking for help so hard?

"I'm trying to decide on my elective subjects for next year." Her cheeks were burning. "I kind of don't - don't know what to choose."

She held out the list.

Taking it, he gave it a quick scan and asked, "What are your personal interests?"

"Chess, I suppose. Reading and... dragons and other creatures and - um - quidditch..." Harriet didn't really know how to answer that so she just said the things that cane to mind, suprising herself with the fact that dragons weren't first for a change.

"I would choose Languages of the Magical World," Percy said after a minute of mulling it over, "It only teaches you the basics of all the magical languages but if they interest you, you can always continue them in the NEWT years. There's also Healing, which - again - only teaches the basics until NEWT's. There's also some muggle subjects you can take... I'd suggest taking another night to think about those though. Overall, definitely Ancient studies and Magical theory for you, I think. Anything else I'd suggest is a NEWT subject."

"That sounds like a good plan!" Harriet's face lit up a bit. "I'm not sure what ancient studies is though... Is that like history of magic?"

"Godric no!" Percy exclaimed, "It focuses on ancient magic like the Egyptian tomb spells or elemental theory magic."

Harriets expression filled with interest.  
Percy chuckled at her expression.

"It's a niche subject, and in high demand on the job market so it's future oriented too."

"Sign me up!" Harriet cried, placing an x in the box.

"You know what?" Percy said, "Come sit with me and my brothers at dinner. We can talk about this some more."

When Harriet got back to the Slytherin common room that evening she wasn't suprised to find it empty. Grateful for small mercies she grabbed a book and curled up in an armchair by the fireplace.

Most of the Slytherins, including Pansy, had gone home for the Christmas holidays. Harriet, despite wanting to see what Christmas was like with Aunt Petunia and Dudley, had prioritized the Chamber of Secrets situation.

Still no progress to report. No sir.

She looked down at the book in her hand, _Magical Serpants: A summary_. A few chapters into it, she got bored. This was the kind of book Theo would like.

Harriet face-palmed. Her mind just had to go there. Getting up she decided to stroll around the corridors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment or Kudo!
> 
> Thanks,  
> XOXO, Drachma


	13. Veritas

"Miss Potter."

Harriet turned around.

"Hello Professor Snape," she gave a smile.

"My office." He swept off, black robes swishing behind him.

Harriet gaped. _What had she done now?_ Hurrying after the head of Slytherin house, her mind went haywire listing all the things that could possibly warrant detention. She'd probably missed curfew.

She entered the office feeling smaller than she had in weeks.

"Potter, sit." Snape said, tone less clipped than usual, "I have been made aware you're spending Christmas at Hogwarts?"

Harriet nodded, not sure what this was about. Wasn't she in trouble?

"Given the current circumstances, I would inquire as to why. One would assume you would be in a hurry to go home to your family, especially given various accusations circling the rumour mill."

Harriet didn't really know how to answer the unasked question.

"I -" she began, not really sure to continue.

Snape looked at her expectantly. She lowered her gaze.

"I wasn't close with my relatives before summer last year and I have bearly gotten to know them over those six weeks." Harriet stared at the desk. That didn't sound great, but it was true and a decidedly better reason than 'I wanted to look for the chamber of secrets'.

"And you still wouldn't prefer to go home instead of having things whispered behind your back wherever you go?"

Harriet looked up. The look he was giving her wasn't accusing. It was almost understanding.

"I think I'd just put a dampener on celebrations," she said looking at a shelf of glass vials.

"You don't feel welcome." It wasn't a question. It was a statement. If it hadn't been true, Harriet would have protested.

"Christmas has never really been my thing." Harriet gave a grim smile.

"Last year you seemed to be enjoying it with your friends."

"The exception to the rule I believe, sir."

"I see."

A moment of silence passed. The clock ticked on the wall.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

"Very well, Potter. Would you mind giving up a portion of your holiday helping me organize my office? I need to make space for new potions I intend on brewing."

It was as much of a 'you're welcome here' as Snape could probably give.

"Of course, Sir. I'm happy to help."

"Appreciated." It didn't even sound like a thank you, but then again, no one had ever heard Professor Severus Snape utter anything sounding remotely like gratitude. Thus, Harriet took it as an effort and left it at that. Small victories or something like that.

"When do we start?" she asked.

"Do you have any plans for the day?" Professor Snape raised an eyebrow.

Harriet was being called out and she knew it.

"No... Now, then?"

Instead of a Verbal answer, Snape stood and walked to a bookshelf in the corner of the room.

"Old potions books. Some are Alchemy. If you would be kind enough to sort through them and see if any are here twice."

Harriet nodded.

"Place the annotated copies back on the shelf and any books which are here singularily. From the remaining copies, you may keep what interests you. The rest in that box."

"Okay, Professor." Harriet rolled up her sleeves and dove in. This had to be the best task available. It involved books!

She started scanning the titles:

_A collection of Above Three Hundred Reciepts in Cookery, Physick and Surgery_

_Advanced Potion making_

_Asiatic Anti-Venoms_

_Book Of Potions_

_Librum Volatile_

_Poisonous Compendium_

_Restored lexicon_

On and on it went down to:

_Zyheggud Guide to Alchemist Endeavours_

Excitedly, she began flipping through them. Carefully and one by one lest she get dog ears in them or bend a cover. Imagine doing that to a book.

People who made dog ears were monsters.

Behind her the tinkle of glass, let her know that Snape was sorting through vials.

"Have you decided on your electives already, Potter?" he asked.

"Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Languages of the Magical World, Healing, Ancient studies, Magical theory and Ghoul Studies. Maybe muggle sciences as well but I'm not sure yet." Harriet replied from somewhere in the book pile.

If Snape was suprised or concerned about the amount, he didn't show it.

"Ghoul studies?" Snape's usual drawl hinted at interest, which was more emotion than it usually contained.

"Yeah," Harriet nodded, "Seems like something not everyone would want to learn."

"Is that why you chose it?"

"No..." Harriet frowned to herself. "I may have made friends with a ghost and she - well - she's kind of stuck in one place and I wanted to see if I could give her a larger amount of room to move."

"I see. Might I ask how the idea of befriending a ghost came to you?"

"She's nicer than a lot of the people I know." Harriet muttered quietly.

"What was that?"

"I'm not entirely sure."

"I see."

If one could look into Professor Severus Snape's mind at that moment one would be made painfully aware of the fact that he was seeing too many similarities between his student and himself. Severus, whose father was neglectful and possibly even violent, seeing the guarded way he had interacted with adults and often peers reflected in this childs mannerisms. He was aware that he should have probably spoken to her about her at home circumstances.

However, some things had to be considered. Things such as being a double agent for both Dumbledore and the Dark Lord. Any signs of favouritism were a bad move and yet...

A couple of books was a measly apology for negilence. Lilly Potter would hex him into next year if she knew.

He frowned at the bottle of veritaserum, a strong truth potion, in his hand. Was the universe mocking him now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment or Kudo.
> 
> XOXO, Drachma


	14. An apology?

The Christmas holidays were strange. Hogwarts was quieter than usual and re-organizing Snape's office was an odd task.

At least it meant good conversation. Both teacher and student seemed to have issues talking about feelings, so potions it was.

Most of the girls in the Slytherin dormitory had been invited to spend Christmas at the Parkinsons. It was a childish thing for Pansy to do, but then again, Harriet had essentially threatened her.

A small voice in Harriet's mind whispered, " _Apologise! Maybe your friend will come back to you!_ "

It was probably right, however Harriet was stubbornly refusing to take the high road here. That sounded like emotions and talking about _feelings_. It just... wasn't going to happen. No snitching way. It was Pansy's fault anyway. She just needed to stop being a pansy and own up to it!

Snow was falling outside. Tiny flakes of white floating to the ground covering it in silver. Maybe the cold was the reason that there had been no petrifications lately. Did Slytherins monster hibernate? Had all the muggleborns gone home?

If they had any common sense that was probably a 'yes'.

The fact that a deadly snake was moving freely around the castle should have been enough reason to send the students home until the issue was resolved. Sadly, no one seemed to care besides the more reasonable teachers, none of which were in charge. Harriet didn't want to see what Hogwarts' OFFSTEAD report would look like.

By Christmas eve, the grounds were covered in white and all of the Hogsmeade trips for older students had been cancelled. Many creatures on the Hogwarts reserve had gone into hibernation or had thick fur that kept them warm enough. Some older students had cast some charms on the lake so they could go ice-skating. 

Knowing how Madam Pomfrey was, she probably had litres of skele - grow on deck. A vile potion, that tasted like... well, think of the most vile thing you've ever tasted and double the effect.

Harriet chuckled at the memory of George and Fred enchanting snowballs to hit the back of Quirrels head last year. She wondered how they would react if they found out that they had been hitting the Dark Lord in the face - repeatedly. 

What had happened to Quirrel anyway? Tom had never mentioned that. What else hadn't he mentioned?

Harriet was walking along the corridor, minding her own buisiness, definitely _not_ looking for trouble when Theo caught her.

Harriet immediately whipped out her wand. If he so much as reached for his, she would hex him to -

"Woah, hey!" He held up his hands in surrender. "I just want to talk!"

She didn't budge. Her eyes narrowed. 'I just want to talk' always sounded so suspicious. Was he planning something?

"I wanted to apologize," Theo said, looking at his feet.

Harriet wasn't sure she had heard right. "What?"

"I'm sorry." He began fidgeting with his sleeves. "I'm sorry I thought you were the heir of Slytherin and that I didn't talk to you about it and that I've been a bad friend."

Harriet was dumbstruck. "Kind of an understatement." She lowered her wand a bit.

He chuckled. "Yeah. I know. Sorry."

She wracked her brains. How did one respond to an apology? What was appropriate. Hexing him wasn't the answer. Other forms of violence also didn't seem fitting.

She lowered her wand slightly, still on guard.

"What changed your mind?"

"Well," Theo shifted uncomfortably. "I've been thinking, I -"

"Probably should have done that first."

"I know, I -"

"You know? Then why didn't you?"

"Let me talk!"

"Like you let me talk before passing a verdict? Please tell me you aren't considering a career as a judge. You'd suck!"

"I apologize, okay! I wanted to figure out who opened the Chamber and you being a Parselmouth came as a shock to me!" Theo tried to explain.

Harriet rolled her eyes. "So I was automatically evil? Good to know!"

"No - I - Look, being a Parselmouth is considered a dark gift and somewhat dead outside the House of Slytherin. It seemed a logical conclusion."

"Again! You could have asked me! So much for being great study buddies! Would you have done this to anyone else?"

"Well no-one else was under suspicion so -"

"So you, like an idiot, jumped to conclusions? I thought you were supposed to be a Ravenclaw!"

"I may have discussed my theory with some other people before deciding. Y'know, after the duelling club..."

"With who?" Harriet spoke quietly. The murderous quietly.

"Well, it might have been possible Ron Weasley was present..."

Screw violence not being the answer. Theodore Nott was a dead man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What would you have done? I'm curious.
> 
> Comment or leave a kudo.
> 
> XOXO, Drachma


	15. Back on the Case

To Theodore's credit, he didn't rat her out for putting him in the hospital wing. Harriet supposed she could take that as an apology.

Christmas day came far too quickly. Harriet climbed up the steps to the owlery. To her knowledge, it would be vacant. She didn't particularly want to see anyone at the moment.

Trying to breathe some warmth into her hands, she sat down in the corner, near where Hedwig would land at some point. Her snowy owl was probably out hunting again.

Hedwig swooped in, dropping a few packages on her.

"Ow!" Harriet complained. Then she dropped her gaze to the packages.

They came as quite a suprise considering she hadn't expected anything this year. She was however happy that she had sent Draco, Blaise and the Weasleys something.

She tipped a couple of treats into Hedwigs feeder.

Hastily, she gathered the packages in her arms and raced back to the dormitory.

The final days of the holidays came and went, Harriet spending most of them in a brand new Weasley sweater (courtesy of Mrs. Weasley) and a pair of really fluffy socks from her Aunt. She had sent a thank you note.

The rest of the Easter holidays dragged by. Harriet spent a lot of time with the Weasley twins and Percy. 

The twins introduced her to Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, with whom she spent hours talking about the different teams mainly criticising strategies. Oliver was really cool. So cool, Harriet almost wished she could try out for the Gryffindor quidditch team come Spring. Alas, her loyalties still lay with Slytherin.

The Hufflepuff seeker, Jiyu Burokami, reintroduced herself. Apparently she had been friends with the twins since first year and was from Tokyo. 

Percy introduced her to some of the other prefects. Higgs and Farley she already knew. They were both Slytherins. The others though? She hadn't really met any except Percy.

Harriet almost hated to admit it, but literally everyone in this circle was so much more awesome than her.

Harriet sighed. She was currently sitting in the Slytherin common room waiting for basically anyone to come back from their time at home. Impatient, she tapped her fingers on the nearby table. 

"Potter!" a famillier voice startled her out of her tapping.

"Malfoy!" she cried happily. "How are you? How were you're holidays?"

Draco pulled her into a hug, patting her on the back.

Pulling back, he asked, "Anything new?"

"Besides the fact that I probably chose too many subject for next year and I found ouit who started the heir of Slytherin rumour?" Harriet raised an eyebrow.

"No way!" Draco gasped. "Who?"

"Theodore Nott."

"Really? Where is he?"

"Hospital wing." Harriet shrugged noncholantly.

"I guess he did NOTT see that coming!" Blaise joined them grinning.

Draco and Harriet groaned. "Get out!"

"Subject aside," Blaise rolled his eyes, "Any news on the Chamber of Secrets?"

"It was opened by Ginny Weasley," Harriet huffed, "A Gryffindor first year. She was under some sort of spell or curse when she did it. I don't think she can remember anything. We should probably keep an eye on her just in case. The only things I don't know are are what snake and how do we close it."

"So you know where it is?"

"Yeah." Harriet had had way too much time on her hands.

Draco sighed and scratched his forehead. "Library then?"

"Library." Harriet confirmed.

The following two months were spent between book pages and scribbled notes. Once again, Harriet was stressing about exams as well.

It was Blaise's idea to enlist Crabbe and Goyle's help. It was met with sceptism from all sides at first, but ultimately payed off.

They found the answer to the question of the snake. It was a Basilisk.

Harriet wasn't entirely sure how to react to the news. Crabbe and Goyle? Figuring something out on their own? 

"Guess you're not as stupid as I thought." Draco joked, slapping Crabbe on the arm while Blaise enthusiastically shook Goyles hand.

Now the remaining issue was that no book in Hogwarts seemed to be able to tell them how to close the chamber. Not even the ones in the restricted section!

After a long mental debate that lasted all of three minutes, Harriet decided to turn to Tom for help.

She wrote:

_Tom,_   
_Sorry to bother you again. Do you have any idea how to close the chamber of secrets? We really need to know._   
_Thanks,_   
_Harriet J. Potter_

Hedwig grabbed the letter as soon as she arrived in the owlery and in a flurry of snowy white wings flew off. 

Harriet went to the window, watching her owl soar off into the clouds. They looked like cotton candy today, soft and fluffy.

She didn't know if the Drak Lord would help them. Perhaps he didn't want to or the rumours were true and he did hate muggleborns. After all, it was strongly implied that he had been responsible for the last opening of the chamber of secrets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment or Kudo. Thank you!  
> XOXO, Drachma


	16. A Solution?

Theodore had taken up visiting Cassie in the Hospital Wing. It was awkward for the most part. How did you have a converation with someone who was petrified?

He sat there unsure of what to do. I mean, what in the name of Helena was he supposed to do? He sighed. This sucked badly.

Cassie was practically the Ravenclaw second year 'ringleader' as she always said in reference to a song by Biffany Lears, or whatever the singer she'd mentioned's name was. To be honest he didn't care. He just wanted Cassie to get better. Maybe he would tell her how he felt when she did.

An image of his friends wheezing with laughter popped into his mind. Like he was brave enough to do that.

On the other side of the castle, Harriet was starting to feel restless. It was like the universe wanted someone to die. 

Fuming, she paced around the common room trying to come up with a solution on her own. There was no use relying on any of the others. All their solutions were what you would find in a dictionary if you looked up the word 'stupid'. Maybe even'brainless'.

Draco was lounging in a nearby armchair, sulking. He had just gotten three of his ideas denied. 

Harriet had admitted that calling some sort of magical creature watch team was probably a good idea, but _somebody_ would make it out to be a prank students pulled to keep Hogwarts and their main source of income from being shut down. Thus, they had to play pest-control themselves.

The issue was the lack of information. Or rather, that one missing piece to comlete the puzzle.

Harriet wanted to punch something. How dare the universe keep one _miserable_ piece of information from her!

The next morning turned things around. Harriet's breakfast was disturbed by the flutter of wings and a white feather falling onto her face when she looked up.

She sneezed.

"Hedwig!" she cried leaping up. 

The owl replied by dumping a letter in her hands and flew off after stealing a piece of toast from Pansy.

Harriet sat back down and unfolded the parchment carefully.

Toms handwriting was unmistakeable.

_Harriet,_

_There is no clear way to remove a basilisk from its chosen location. Especially not if it was placed by Salazar Slytherin himself._

_One rumour specifies that a person has to be sacrificed to close the Chamber of Secrets. Another would tell you that finding a new basilisk to "replace" the old one is neccessary._ _I suggest a young one. They're the most vicious and effective. The 'eyes of death' wear off after a while._

_I apologize for the lack of solid advice._

_Best wishes,_

_Tom Marvolo Riddle_

Harriet stared at the letter. A human sacrifice or a new snake. Great. Just great. 

She rolled her eyes. Tom didn't exactly sound apologetic for being of no use. But then again, maybe he was just bad with words. If he didn't care, he wouldn't have given any advice.

But he had potentially killed Myrtle using a Basilisk.

He was trying to help though, right?

Harriet couldn't figure it out so she shoved the thoughts into the back of her mind and decided to focus on the task at hand.

She wondered how the others were going to react to the suggestions.

Blaise's jaw dropped. Draco's eyebrows rose to his hairline. Harriet grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of her neck. 

" How the hell do we get a Basilisk? " Blaise asked.

" We can always wait for someone to die..." Draco shrugged.

"Why would we do that?" Blaise sounded mildy horrified and just on the edge of intrigued.

"It's easier."

"No one is dying." Harriet said firmly, "No one." She was not going to Azkahban because of a pet problem.

Draco just nodded, eyes wide. 

Blaise rolled his eyes,"Well, I'll be going to the library to research the trade of magical creatures. You should come as well. I'm pretty sure this Illegal though."

"When have we ever followed the law to 100 percent? " Harriet asked.

"We're in our second year at school and I can't give you an answer to that," Draco sighed.

"Exactly!" Harriet exclaimed, "We didn't give a damn last year when we saved the philosopher's Stone! Why should we care now? We're doing the world some good aren't we?"

"Technically, it was just the school." Draco said.

"Details," Harriet said, making a dismissing motion with her hand.

She began to walk off.

"Where are you going?" Blaise called after her, "Thought we were all going to do research."

"Bathroom."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment or Kudo. Thanks!  
> XOXO, Drachma


	17. Operation Pest Control: Phase 1

Harriet hurried up several flights of stairs. Yes, she desperately needed to pee but she also needed to speak to Myrtle.

She probably could have gone to the bathrooms in the dungeons, but this saved time.

When she got there, Myrtle was sitting on a sink wailing.

"What's wrong Myrtle?" Harriet asked, as gently as she could.

Myrtle's crying ceased instantly and she started beaming.

"Harriet! It's so nice to see you!"She exclaimed, "Don't worry, Peeves was just making fun of me again. He really gets to you. How's your investigation coming along? Has someone died?"

The second question was way too cheerful.

"Well, no one is dead yet. We did find a way to close the chamber, though we're not sure that it will work." Harriet said walking to a stall. "Is it okay if I use this one?"

At Myrtle's nod, she entered it and locked the door. She could never remember which one was Myrtles stall and she didn't feel like being chewed out again.

"We think that it's possible to seal the chamber by finding a new basilisk to replace the old one," she continued. "There is several issues with that though. One, we don't know where to get a basilisk and, two, we're not sure how to make the replacement."

Harriet flushed and went to wash her hands.

"Oh, if this was 1942 I could tell you about my uncle Billy Bradshaw who was a smuggler of illegal items. He was part of the smugglers gang, 'the blue eagles'. Perhaps he's still around! Then you could ask him," Myrtle said, floating upwards a bit. "I think he might have died because of his job though."

"You think they can find and smuggle a deadly snake?" Harriet wasn't convinced. That could go wrong so many different ways.

"I'm not sure. I think they'd at least try if you offered them a good sum." Myrtle shrugged.

Harriet tapped her fingers on the sink. "How much is a good sum? Considering the health and safety risks."

"I don't know. It can be anything so long as it's of the same value as what they're smuggling and the health and safety expenses."

"Sounds fair."

"How much were you thinking?"

"Nothing yet."

"What are you planning?"

"To research finance and the stock market value of a basilisk." Harriet rubbed her forehead, "And to check my bank account."

Five hours later, Harriet slammed her book down causing Blaise and Draco to flinch violently.

"That's it!" she said, "We're murdering someone!"

Some passers-by shot them concerned glances and hurried along.

"Maybe don't say that so loudly?" Blaise suggested.

"And not in a crowded corridor." Draco turned over a page in his charms textbook. "But if that's the plan..."

He trailed off with a smirk. Harriet rolled her eyes. No way was Draco capable of hurting anyone.

"No, no, no!" Blaise sounded horrified. "We're not murderers. We're twelve! And look! I found something!"

He pointed to a page of potions ingredients and their stock market value.

"Bummer," Harriet said, noting down the relevant price, "I'd have loved to get back at someone."

"No." Draco shook his head. "That is not a justifiable reason to kill someone."

"Perhaps not."

"Who were you even talking about? Theo or Pansy?"

"Not sure. Maybe Dumbledore? Or Vernon?"

"Vernon?" Blaise looked confused.

"My Aunts ex-husband."

"Reasonable."

"I thought we just established that revenge isn't a valid reason to kill?" Draco rolled his eyes.

"Buzzkill."

" _We're only twelve, we're not murderers!"_ Draco mocked.

"Can we focus on the task at hand?" Harriet asked. "We still need to find a way to contact you know who."

"The Dark Lord?"

"No, you wet sock!" Harriet smacked him on the arm. "The bird gang!"

"Wet sock!?"

"Focus!"

"But -"

"You heard the lady!" Blaise said, flipping through pages with the face of an angel.

"You too." Harriet gave him a kick.

"Fine." Blaise grumbled.

The common room was mostly empty when they arrived in the evening. The silver green hue cast by the moonlight through the lake illuminated the tables and chairs. Harriet nodded to the boys and made her way towards her dormitory. They needed enough rare objects to be worth a deadly snake.

"Harriet?" Pansy stood up from a chair near the door and rushed to catch up, grabbing her arm. "Can we talk?"

Harriet wrenched her arm free. "If you don't grab me and it includes an apology."

"Can we go somewhere else?"

"Why?"

"Privacy?"

"For what?"

"You know what?" Pansy snapped, "Forget it. Nevermind." She held up her hands and stalked off.

"What was that about?" Someone asked.

"Doesn't matter."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment or Kudo.
> 
> XOXO, Drachma


	18. Musings of an Old Man

High up in a tower, stood an old man. He stood by the window staring out over the Highlands. There were many issues with the current events.

  


The opening of the Chamber of Secrets had been unforseen. Unforseen, but not entirely unwelcome. It kept everyone distracted. 

  


Unfortunately, Albus Dumbledore was stuck in a position where even the greatest distraction wouldn't help him. If ever an opportunity to sieze the hallows presented itself, it was this one. Anyone would wonder what was stopping him.

  


The truth was that he didn't know where they were. He had the elder wand. Where were the others?

  


He had sacrificed so much for this. He just needed the stone and the cloak.

  


_It was a quiet day at the beach._

  


_"Albus!" Ariana cried, leaping from rock to rock. "Look!"_

  


_"You shouldn't do that!" Gellert chuckled at her antics. "You could fall."_

  


_"I flew yesterday! Why would I fall if I can fly?" The girl laughed brightly. "Albus! Tell him he's being stupid!"_

  


_Albus wasn't bothering to pay attention to her. He was too busy watching the way the sunlight made Gellert's hair apear like gold. The light imitated a halo, crowning his angel._

  


Of course, everything had gone wrong after that.

  


_Her laughter carried as she rose into the air._

  


_"Look!" She called, again. Like they hadn't heard her the first time._

  


_She spun around the air like a ballerina._

  


_"Very pretty!" Gellert laughed with her, his accent sounding on the 'r' sounds of the words. He got up, sand falling off of his clothes and began to walk along the beach. "Very pretty, right Albus?"_

  


_"Yes," he agreed, without looking at her._

  


_A strong gust of wind swept across the sand. Ariana let out a cry before steadying herself in the air again._

  


_"I really think you should come back to the ground again." Gellert called to her, concerned._

  


That day had been a tragedy. Ariana had fallen from the sky and of course Gellert had to try and catch the stupid girl hitting his head on a rock when her weight brought him down.

  


_"Bring him back!" he screamed._

  


_"I can't," she sobbed, "I can't! Albus, I'm so sorry!"_

  


_"Bring him back, please!"_

  


_"I can't!"_

  


_"You're the most powerful of us! Help him!"_

  


_"I'm no master of death, Albus. I can't do it!"_

  


Albus Dumbledore gripped the wand in his hand tighter. Ariana had been right. She was no master of death. She was too meek-mannered and scared to even try.

  


She had sworn never to use magic again after the first attempt and had paid the price. Her power turned on her warping her mind and eventually becoming too much madness for her too handle. His dear sister had died soon after Gellert Grindewald. 

  


Not long after Aberforth, his younger brother had left him also. Voluntarily.

He had given up claiming Albus to be mad. Mad beyond compare.

  


Had he not seen that he had been trying to bring their family back? Their mother and sister? Even Gellert?

  


It didn't matter. One day he would see.

  


He just needed a few pieces of the puzzle to fall into place. 

  


Tom Riddle had the resurrection stone. He had to die. Anyone working with him had to die first, to avoid it escaping his grasp again. 

  


What happened at the Potters was unfortunate, but necessary. They had hidden the cloak. Even after he had asked them for help, explaining the situation.

  


Them being caught in the crossfire had been a result of them trusting Tom Riddle. It was hardly his fault that they had been stupid enough to do so.

James and lilly hadn't actually needed to die.

  


He had needed one of them alive at least. Just not the infant. 

  


The infant that was now old enough to be causing trouble for his plans. 

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment or kudo.
> 
> XOXO, Drachma.

**Author's Note:**

> Comment or Kudo! 
> 
> Thanks, Drachma  
> XOXO


End file.
